Subject: Re: [FFML] [fanfic][Hitomi] An Alternate History of Ranma 1/2, Chapter 7: What troubles me about...
From: Sebastian Weinberg
Date: 2/26/1998, 12:54 PM
To: Fanfiction ML


Mina-san, Ohayou!

In message <3.0.2.32.19980219225347.00841100@unix.tamu.edu>
    Nicholas Leifker wrote:

: 	He should have realised something was wrong and taken steps to correct it.
:  If he had known of Akane�s leanings and feelings earlier, he would have
: instituted the appropriate measures to insure that she would like men.

Yeah, sure!  There's a miracle cure now: Sapph-away(TM)!  Just add
it to the daily diet of your young sexual deviant and within days
she will be transformed to a happy, well-adjusted heterosexual! 
And if you believe that, I've got this bridge for sale...  :)

BTW, I notice that this text is written with "Smartquotes". 
These are not part of the ISO-8859-1 character set (Latin 1) and
most certainly not of ASCII.  Please avoid them, for the sake of
legibility.


: An Alternate History of Ranma 1/2:
: 
: Chapter Seven:
: 
: What troubles me about...

: By Ichinohei Hitomi


: 	Both girls were left wondering what to do, and since Akane did not want to
: go jogging that morning, they left for the breakfast table where things got
: progressively worse.  There Genma had refused to even look at Ranma, or
: acknowledge her existence.  To everyone in the family, it was painfully
: obvious that he was at the point of denying her very existence.

The last two sentences are phrased somewhat redundantly.  Also,
both make the same point: If he doesn't acknowledge her existence
he is denying it.  I'd suggest making the first "existence"
something like "presence", which would make the second sentence a
further explanation, instead of a restatement.


: 	Although she would never admit it, even to Akane, Ranma was feeling the
: loss of her fathers love.  Up to this point in her life, he had always
: acknowledged her presence and her well being, no matter what the situation.

He acknowledged her well-being? (note the hyphen, BTW)  I think
"acknowledged her presence and cared for her well-being" may be
better.


: 	The smaller girl gave a sigh, �It�s just that I never needed no-one
: before.  I don�t understand why I�m acting like this.�
: 	Akane halted the two of them, grabbed Ranma by both shoulders and looked
: her in the eyes.  �Ranma, you�ve always had someone, although you never
: knew it before today.

Very good!


: This morning, he did not show that love, and you don�t know how to
: handle it as yet.

Either "as of yet" or just "yet". I'd suggest the latter.


: 	Kasumi sighed.  �No.  I know most of what has been going on, and being
: �oblivious� allowed me to deal with the situations and defuse any bad
: feelings that may have resulted.  I think father knows, but if he does,
: he�s never mentioned it.  In case you�re wondering, I know that what you�ve
: been doing has been the only way we�ve been surviving.  I�m not saying that
: you should give it up, but perhaps you should start looking for something a
: bit more honourable to do.�

Whoah!  You're gallopping with the characterization.  "Hey, look,
everybody!  In reality I'm not oblivious, and incidentally,
Nabiki, how about reforming, too?"  I can certainly understand
that the current situation at the Tendou home would bring forth
lots of development for the characters and reveal heretofore
hidden sides to them, but you're going a little fast here.

It's not criminally OOC, but I thought I'd warn you.  :)


: No
: matter what, she should not have cried like some little girl.  Except, that
: was exactly what she was now.

Hey, looked in the mirror lately, Ranma?  Girl you may be, but
little...?  Not with that bust measure.  :)


: 	He made it back.
: 	Somehow, he had arrived back in Japan without incident, and without
: anything embarrassing happening.

Heh heh heh.  Things are going to get interesting. :)


: �There is no choice.
:  I must speak to Soun and we must come up with a plan to return my son�s
: manhood, or give up any hope of truly joining our families.  I will either
: have a son, or I will not have a child.�

I wonder why the promise to Nodoka was not mentioned at all in his
introspection.  Surely the fact that Ranma has sworn to be an
"otoko no otoko" would be a most welcome fact to Genma, since his
vow could be used to force Ranma's hand.


: Boxers and fighters, kendoists and
: jujitsu practitioners, they all conveniently forgot the years of fights
: that Akane had, her expertise with boken, rapier, and most other types of
: swords, her ability at hand to hand combat, and how she could adapt to any
: situation.

Phew, a rather long run-on sentence.  I'd suggest breaking it up
with a semicolon or a dash here and there.  Also, unless you are
thinking of an entirely different word, "bokken" is usually
romanized with a double k.


: 	Genma suddenly snorted, �Both are to blame.  As of this moment, I no
: longer have a son, and I cannot accept that.  With your permission, I would
: like to search for a possible cure, but it may be a couple of months before
: I can return.�
: 	Soun relaxed, the situation had not caused a breach in their friendship,
: �I will come with you.  It is almost time for me to make my annual journey
: around the country and check in on the towns that have requested my help.
: We could combine our purposes and look into every possibility instead of
: only a few and it will be less lonely that way.�

Hoo hah!  Can you say "Plot Necessity"?  :)


: �Shall it be like it was when we were younger and training under the Master?�
: 	Soun grinned in return.  �Except for some aspects, I think that would be
: enjoyable.

Yeah, this time Genma has to take the passive position.  :)


: 	Hikaru couldn�t help himself.

Well, nobody can.  He's beyond help. :)


: 	Ranma knew Martial Arts.  She had to in order to be able to take care of
: Kuno.

I'd suggest a comma after "had to".


: 	Akane�s eyebrows rose, and she asked suspiciously, �You�re not here to
: challenge Ranma or myself?�

"Or me", actually.


: A lot of what he was talking about with
: them were the stupidity of the boys

"Was", I think.


: 	That was when Ranma sense of danger activated,

"Ranma's"


Quite interesting.  I guess with Ryouga blabbing Ranma's secret,
things are *really* going to become... turbulent.


Sebastian
-- <http://enterprise.mathematik.uni-essen.de/~bastian/> Comics reviewed
-- Truly great madness can not be achieved without significant intelligence. - Henrik Tikkanen